Author Topic: Overheard at Work  (Read 13252663 times)

maco

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12800 on: March 17, 2016, 02:54:41 PM »
Eh, pizza can be had far more cheaply from a restaurant than at home. Economies of scale, and all that. I don't want a pound of mozzarella (or pepperoni, or other topping) going moldy in my fridge. If I only buy the amount I need, it's way too expensive. A large pizza can be had for as little as $5-6, depending on the special.
However, can we stop talking about food? I am on a diet and I can't have any pizza right now.
Yes, I know if I worked out more, it'd be fine. When I was training for a 100-mile bike race I could put away an entire large pepperoni pizza by myself. That's one of the nice things about doing speed drills for 8 hours.

I ran the numbers on this when I was staying with my SO in Canada (and groceries are generally more expensive there)...I'm pretty sure we were around $3/pizza. Cheese was the most expensive part. You can freeze mozzarella, btw.
You can freeze pepperoni, too. When I told my stepdad that we get pillow packs of pepperoni because Costco's freezer pizza is only cheese, he told me to freeze it because thin slices like that go off faster in the fridge.

shelivesthedream

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12801 on: March 17, 2016, 02:57:38 PM »
I was working on location in a cafe today and overheard this very opinionated conversation going on behind me with three young men, all about mid-twenties and looking like they had not been to bed after a night out last night, all about political philosophy (the purpose of voting, Donald Trump, the role of the state etc).

Then the chief yoof said, "I think we should get rid of the state pension because let's be honest, if you haven't got your life sorted out by 65 then you've really fucked up. I mean, who can't get together enough in 45 years to last you another 20?"

I just looked at him and thought, "You had better have several thousand pounds in your private pension right now, mate, or you are talking out of your arse."

shelivesthedream

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12802 on: March 17, 2016, 03:03:17 PM »
Eh, pizza can be had far more cheaply from a restaurant than at home. Economies of scale, and all that. I don't want a pound of mozzarella (or pepperoni, or other topping) going moldy in my fridge. If I only buy the amount I need, it's way too expensive. A large pizza can be had for as little as $5-6, depending on the special.
However, can we stop talking about food? I am on a diet and I can't have any pizza right now.
Yes, I know if I worked out more, it'd be fine. When I was training for a 100-mile bike race I could put away an entire large pepperoni pizza by myself. That's one of the nice things about doing speed drills for 8 hours.

I ran the numbers on this when I was staying with my SO in Canada (and groceries are generally more expensive there)...I'm pretty sure we were around $3/pizza. Cheese was the most expensive part. You can freeze mozzarella, btw.

We have had the conversation about whether restaurant, frozen or homemade pizza is cheaper, it's here: http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/ask-a-mustachian/does-anyone-never-go-out-to-eat/msg964651/#msg964651

ohyonghao

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12803 on: March 17, 2016, 04:45:52 PM »
Yesterday I was talking to a coworker about my recent vacation to Taiwan.  I told him how I wanted to retire there, with my wife who's a native.  His reply was, "Sounds like a good plan in 10 years."

I'm thinking, shouldn't take that long at all to get to the point to retire there, by my calculations we're about 3-5 years out.  Though I do suppose it's better than thinking it's a good idea in 20 years (we're both in our 30's).

jamesvt

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12804 on: March 17, 2016, 09:34:03 PM »
I was working on location in a cafe today and overheard this very opinionated conversation going on behind me with three young men, all about mid-twenties and looking like they had not been to bed after a night out last night, all about political philosophy (the purpose of voting, Donald Trump, the role of the state etc).

Then the chief yoof said, "I think we should get rid of the state pension because let's be honest, if you haven't got your life sorted out by 65 then you've really fucked up. I mean, who can't get together enough in 45 years to last you another 20?"

I just looked at him and thought, "You had better have several thousand pounds in your private pension right now, mate, or you are talking out of your arse."
How is what he said antimustachian?

Sam E

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12805 on: March 18, 2016, 08:45:46 AM »
Is there anything at a pharmacy that actually requires a chemist ?
Synthesis of Aspirin and Acetaminophen is probably an undergrad lab exercise but you aren't likely to be making up many of the drugs sold.

It's a good job other professions didn't get in on this, I would hate to have to wait for the in-store metallurgist at home depot to sell me some bolts. Although down in Oregon you do need the station's specialist petrochemical hydrodynamicist to pump the gas
 

Pharmacists aren't chemists in the first place. Their education is in pharmacology, not chemistry.

jinga nation

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12806 on: March 18, 2016, 11:40:21 AM »
I was working on location in a cafe today and overheard this very opinionated conversation going on behind me with three young men, all about mid-twenties and looking like they had not been to bed after a night out last night, all about political philosophy (the purpose of voting, Donald Trump, the role of the state etc).

Then the chief yoof said, "I think we should get rid of the state pension because let's be honest, if you haven't got your life sorted out by 65 then you've really fucked up. I mean, who can't get together enough in 45 years to last you another 20?"

I just looked at him and thought, "You had better have several thousand pounds in your private pension right now, mate, or you are talking out of your arse."
How is what he said antimustachian?
What many say and what they do IRL are polar opposites. Plus, UK citizens rely on the dole aka public pension. Not everyone has a private pension.

dsmexpat

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12807 on: March 18, 2016, 12:32:44 PM »
The dole is absolutely  not a public pension. The dole is unemployment benefit for people without work. Pensions are pensions. Two couldn't be more different.

geekette

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12808 on: March 18, 2016, 02:20:33 PM »
Speaking of why it takes so long to fill a prescription, there was a blog from a pharmacist (going by the name of Drug Monkey) about 10 years ago, which probably still holds, at least in many pharmacies:

Quote
You come to the counter. I am on the phone with a drunk dude who wants the phone number to the grocery store next door. After I instruct him on the virtues of 411, you tell me your doctor was to phone in your prescription to me. Your doctor hasn't, and you're unwilling to wait until he does. Being in a generous mood, I call your doctors office and am put on hold for 5 minutes, then informed that your prescription was phoned in to my competitor on the other side of town. Phoning the competitor, I am immediately put on hold for 5 minutes before speaking to a clerk, who puts me back on hold to wait for the pharmacist. Your prescription is then transferred to me, and now I have to get the 2 phone calls that have been put on hold while this was being done. Now I return to the counter to ask if we've ever filled prescriptions for you before. For some reason, you think that "for you" means "for your cousin" and you answer my question with a "yes", whereupon I go the computer and see you are not on file.

The phone rings.

You have left to do something very important, such as browse through the monster truck magazines, and do not hear the three PA announcements requesting that you return to the pharmacy. You return eventually, expecting to pick up the finished prescription.....

The phone rings.

......only to find out that I need to ask your address, phone number, date of birth, if you have any allergies and insurance coverage. You tell me you're allergic to codeine. Since the prescription is for Vicodin I ask you what exactly codeine did to you when you took it. You say it made your stomach hurt and I roll my eyes and write down "no known allergies" You tell me......

The phone rings.

.....you have insurance and spend the next 5 minutes looking for your card. You give up and expect me to be able to file your claim anyway. I call my competitor and am immediately put on hold. Upon reaching a human, I ask them what insurance they have on file for you. I get the information and file your claim, which is rejected because you changed jobs 6 months ago. A dingus barges his way to the counter to ask where the bread is.

The phone rings.

I inform you that the insurance the other pharmacy has on file for you isn't working. You produce a card in under 10 seconds that you seemed to be unable to find before. What you were really doing was hoping your old insurance would still work because it had a lower copay. Your new card prominently displays the logo of Nebraska Blue Cross, and although Nebraska Blue cross does in fact handle millions of prescription claims every day, for the group you belong to, the claim should go to a company called Caremark, whose logo is nowhere on the card.

The phone rings.

A lady comes to the counter wanting to know why the cherry flavored antacid works better than the lemon cream flavored antacid. What probably happened is that she had a milder case of heartburn when she took the cherry flavored brand, as they both use the exact same ingredient in the same strength. She will not be satisfied though until I confirm her belief that the cherry flavored brand is the superior product. I file your claim with Caremark, who rejects it because you had a 30 day supply of Vicodin filled 15 days ago at another pharmacy. You swear to me on your mother's'....

The phone rings.

.......life that you did not have a Vicodin prescription filled recently. I call Caremark and am immediately placed on hold. The most beautiful woman on the planet walks buy and notices not a thing. She has never talked to a pharmacist and never will. Upon reaching a human at Caremark, I am informed that the Vicodin prescription was indeed filled at another of my competitors. When I tell you this, you say you got hydrocodone there, not Vicodin. Another little part of me dies.

The phone rings.

It turns out that a few days after your doctor wrote your last prescription, he told you to take it more frequently, meaning that what Caremark thought was a 30-day supply is indeed a 15 day supply with the new instructions. I call your doctor's office to confirm this and am immediately placed on hold. I call Caremark to get an override and am immediately placed on hold. My laser printer has a paper jam. It's time for my tech to go to lunch. Caremark issues the override and your claim goes though. Your insurance saves you 85 cents off the regular price of the prescription.

The phone rings.

At the cash register you sign....

The phone rings.

......the acknowledgement that you received a copy of my HIPAA policy and that I offered the required OBRA counseling for new prescriptions. You remark that you're glad that your last pharmacist told you you shouldn't take over the counter Tylenol along with the Vicodin, and that the acetaminophen you're taking instead seems to be working pretty well. I break the news to you that Tylenol is simply a brand name for acetaminophen and you don't believe me. You fumble around for 2 minutes looking for your checkbook and spend another 2 minutes making out a check for four dollars and sixty seven cents. You ask why the tablets look different than those you got at the other pharmacy. I explain that they are from a different manufacturer. Tomorrow you'll be back to tell me they don't work as well.

Now imagine this wasn't you at all, but the person who dropped off their prescription three people ahead of you, and you'll start to have an idea why.....your prescription takes so damn long to fill.

pancakes

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12809 on: March 19, 2016, 09:33:48 PM »
We have a new person at work who is a terrible enabler to one of our younger team members when it comes to spending.

We get paid monthly and the new team member immediately transfers a percentage of their pay into savings (I'm pretty sure the younger team member doesn't know this). In the last week of our pay cycle they both complain about being down to their last $40 or so, which only makes the one who is struggling feel as though their spending behaviour is normal.

The truth is that their situations are completely different. The younger team member is in debt and is spending every cent of their pay each month where as the newer team member has very healthy savings and is only spending the money they have budgeted to spend.

I keep hearing statements like "you have to rewards yourself sometimes" and "you are doing really well, you should feel great about your progress", when the fact is that they are doing absolutely terribly. It is taking more than two years to pay off $6000 of debt (while I was earning the same income, I saved over $50k in two years).

nnls

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12810 on: March 19, 2016, 10:00:16 PM »
We have a new person at work who is a terrible enabler to one of our younger team members when it comes to spending.

We get paid monthly and the new team member immediately transfers a percentage of their pay into savings (I'm pretty sure the younger team member doesn't know this). In the last week of our pay cycle they both complain about being down to their last $40 or so, which only makes the one who is struggling feel as though their spending behaviour is normal.

The truth is that their situations are completely different. The younger team member is in debt and is spending every cent of their pay each month where as the newer team member has very healthy savings and is only spending the money they have budgeted to spend.

I keep hearing statements like "you have to rewards yourself sometimes" and "you are doing really well, you should feel great about your progress", when the fact is that they are doing absolutely terribly. It is taking more than two years to pay off $6000 of debt (while I was earning the same income, I saved over $50k in two years).

Its weird that the new person at work isnt trying to encourage the others to save a little bit, or at the very least doesnt mention that they put a percentage away each month

pancakes

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12811 on: March 19, 2016, 10:42:29 PM »

Its weird that the new person at work isnt trying to encourage the others to save a little bit, or at the very least doesnt mention that they put a percentage away each month

I don't know that it is purposeful or just trying to fit in and relate to new people. They will talk to me about their savings and to the other person about the lack of money in their transaction account.

I'm finding it frustrating as I had been trying to encourage this person for a long time now and am very careful not to enable them by making excuses for them or making it seem like living pay to pay is normal. I've been trying to convince them that the freedom they'd gain by having financial security will help them more than whatever it is they want to spend their money on.

The person with the debt/spending issue convinced that their stress can be overcome by spending. Most recently they have spend $4k on a renovation on the house that they rent from their parents because they believed that once that aspect of their life is 'fixed' they'd be in the right mental state to start saving. Prior to that it was another renovation, some new furniture, landscaping, new clothing, a holiday, etc, and then they'd be able to save.
« Last Edit: March 19, 2016, 10:44:06 PM by pancakes »

TheGrimSqueaker

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12812 on: March 20, 2016, 08:20:23 AM »
The person with the debt/spending issue convinced that their stress can be overcome by spending. Most recently they have spend $4k on a renovation on the house that they rent from their parents because they believed that once that aspect of their life is 'fixed' they'd be in the right mental state to start saving. Prior to that it was another renovation, some new furniture, landscaping, new clothing, a holiday, etc, and then they'd be able to save.

There's always something, with some folks, that prevents them from a beneficial course of action. In "The War of Art", Steven Pressfield describes a phenomenon he calls "Resistance" (with a capital R) that takes on a variety of different forms, one of which is finding any excuse in the world to not do what needs to be done in order to accomplish the desired results. I'd say the would-be savers are experiencing the same problem.

horsepoor

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12813 on: March 23, 2016, 08:30:51 PM »
Was in Starbuck's today (I know, I know, but just drip coffee in my own mug...) and overheard this woman telling her friend about a coupon from CostCo to get two American Doll outfits for $79.99.  What?  I can get myself two outfits for that much.  People really spend that much on doll outfits?!

LeRainDrop

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12814 on: March 23, 2016, 09:08:50 PM »
Was in Starbuck's today (I know, I know, but just drip coffee in my own mug...) and overheard this woman telling her friend about a coupon from CostCo to get two American Doll outfits for $79.99.  What?  I can get myself two outfits for that much.  People really spend that much on doll outfits?!

On the flip side, you can buy an American Girl doll for like $115.  That's way less expensive than a real kid.

zolotiyeruki

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12815 on: March 23, 2016, 10:45:30 PM »
Was in Starbuck's today (I know, I know, but just drip coffee in my own mug...) and overheard this woman telling her friend about a coupon from CostCo to get two American Doll outfits for $79.99.  What?  I can get myself two outfits for that much.  People really spend that much on doll outfits?!

On the flip side, you can buy an American Girl doll for like $115.  That's way less expensive than a real kid.
At this point I feel obligated to post a link to this hilarious (spoof) article...

Kitsune

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12816 on: March 24, 2016, 06:48:38 AM »
Was in Starbuck's today (I know, I know, but just drip coffee in my own mug...) and overheard this woman telling her friend about a coupon from CostCo to get two American Doll outfits for $79.99.  What?  I can get myself two outfits for that much.  People really spend that much on doll outfits?!

On the flip side, you can buy an American Girl doll for like $115.  That's way less expensive than a real kid.
At this point I feel obligated to post a link to this hilarious (spoof) article...

Parent-tip: yes, doll clothes really DO cost that much, and for some reason they're hard to find used. For larger baby-appearing dolls, though, it's WAY cheaper to get 'preemie' clothing on sale than to buy 'doll' clothes (7$/outfit instead of 35+ per outfit, which is more than I'd pay for my kid's clothes, so like hell am I paying that for a doll...).

For child-appearing dolls, my parents and grandmother used that as an intro-to-sewing for me, when I was a kid. You can make basic sundresses, shirts, and skirts really easily, and most kids will be motivated to learn that (and it's a transferable skillset that can be used to mend clothes and whatnot as an adult).

theadvicist

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12817 on: March 24, 2016, 08:38:56 AM »
This really hasn't been my experience at all. I've always routinely written off adjustments under $1, under $10, under $100, depending on context. If you're making a payment of $1K and you only have support for $900 of it, that's a problem. But if you're booking a tax accrual of $1M and your calculation is out of balance by $100, who cares? Move on.

That said, I once had a manager reject a journal entry because it contained a $0.01 adjustment for which I had not provided support. Everyone who heard about it thought it was ridiculous, though.

This is my experience too. I'm a book-keeper, and I hate being even 1p out. But the accountant? Rounds EVERYTHING. Sometimes down, sometimes up, sometimes to the nearest pound, sometimes to the nearest hundred pounds. Drives me crazy!

Also, rounding makes things harder! I feel this way about our VAT return. It's not hard to use decimals, honestly, I can do it. But rounding leads to inconsistencies, and, especially when you are copying across from figures with pence to figures without, transcription errors. We have pence, let's use them!

ringer707

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12818 on: March 24, 2016, 11:16:04 AM »
Was in Starbuck's today (I know, I know, but just drip coffee in my own mug...) and overheard this woman telling her friend about a coupon from CostCo to get two American Doll outfits for $79.99.  What?  I can get myself two outfits for that much.  People really spend that much on doll outfits?!

I wonder if the woman was referring to the gift cards they're selling. I know Costco was selling $100 American Girl gift cards for $79.99, which can then be used to buy anything. Though I don't doubt the doll outfits are that expensive. I LOVED American Girl dolls when I was little. I shudder to think how much my parents spent on them for me. Thank god there wasn't one of the stores near us back then. My niece now loves it, and my brother builds her furniture for the dolls out of wood scraps. They're usually substantially more beautiful than the actual furniture as he builds high-end timber frame homes and works with quality pieces of wood.

Scandium

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12819 on: March 24, 2016, 11:18:18 AM »
Was in Starbuck's today (I know, I know, but just drip coffee in my own mug...) and overheard this woman telling her friend about a coupon from CostCo to get two American Doll outfits for $79.99.  What?  I can get myself two outfits for that much.  People really spend that much on doll outfits?!

On the flip side, you can buy an American Girl doll for like $115.  That's way less expensive than a real kid.
At this point I feel obligated to post a link to this hilarious (spoof) article...

Search youtube for "my fake baby"... Prepare to be scared, and scarred.
Those were expensive, but I guess still less than a real one.

ShoulderThingThatGoesUp

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12820 on: March 24, 2016, 12:33:00 PM »
My 401k provider sent me the "great news! you're on track to contribute the legal maximum this year" email, and also prompted me to see how I stack up against people my age in contribution rate and account balance. Their answer is that people 20-29 are contributing 7% of their income to their 401ks and have an average account balance of $9,700.

This link seems to be publicly available.

slugline

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12821 on: March 24, 2016, 01:05:48 PM »
My 401k provider sent me the "great news! you're on track to contribute the legal maximum this year" email, and also prompted me to see how I stack up against people my age in contribution rate and account balance. Their answer is that people 20-29 are contributing 7% of their income to their 401ks and have an average account balance of $9,700.

This link seems to be publicly available.

I've seen this before. The fine print says that they're only counting people actively contributing to a workplace retirement savings  plan. So I've been wondering if someone who changes jobs and rolls over their old savings into an IRA suddenly gets counted as a zero in this survey. . . .

Warlord1986

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12822 on: March 24, 2016, 08:38:34 PM »
My supervisor has complained, several times in my hearing, about how little he is paid. He buys lunch at least three times a week, and drives a F150 truck.

A co-worker doesn't complain quite as much, but he does buy coffee. Then he'll sit literally steps away from the coffee machine which is always full of coffee. :/

gimp

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12823 on: March 25, 2016, 04:13:03 PM »
I am buying a radar detector. That qualifies for this thread, right? Speeding costs more than driving more sedately, and I'm spending money to be able to drive faster.

Primm

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12824 on: March 25, 2016, 04:14:02 PM »
I am buying a radar detector. That qualifies for this thread, right? Speeding costs more than driving more sedately, and I'm spending money to be able to drive faster.

Not unless you meant to post it in "What have you done to save money?" and not in "Overheard at work..."


gimp

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12825 on: March 25, 2016, 06:49:16 PM »
Well, I talked about it at work with my coworkers, does that count?

Tom Bri

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12826 on: March 26, 2016, 07:20:47 PM »
I recently completed a degree and got licensed. There are many paths to this degree, typically taking two years. I got hired last week and in our new-hire orientation we got to talking about school. I paid $12K total for mine, including texts, pre-rec classes, no student loans. Other people mention $40K debts to get their degrees. Huh? We got hired by the same company, to do the same job, for the same salary.
I can see it costing more for some people, I tested out of some classes, and had already done many pre-recs. So I can see maybe $20K to get this degree. But, $40K?

MgoSam

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12827 on: March 26, 2016, 10:19:17 PM »
My 401k provider sent me the "great news! you're on track to contribute the legal maximum this year" email, and also prompted me to see how I stack up against people my age in contribution rate and account balance. Their answer is that people 20-29 are contributing 7% of their income to their 401ks and have an average account balance of $9,700.

This link seems to be publicly available.

Thanks for the link. I'm punching well above my age, even in my zip code (which is higher than national). It is weird that for 20-29 the results were the same for both my zip code and for national.

johnny847

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12828 on: March 26, 2016, 10:23:37 PM »
I recently completed a degree and got licensed. There are many paths to this degree, typically taking two years. I got hired last week and in our new-hire orientation we got to talking about school. I paid $12K total for mine, including texts, pre-rec classes, no student loans. Other people mention $40K debts to get their degrees. Huh? We got hired by the same company, to do the same job, for the same salary.
I can see it costing more for some people, I tested out of some classes, and had already done many pre-recs. So I can see maybe $20K to get this degree. But, $40K?

Anybody can decide to go to an expensive private school for a ton of money.
I certainly did. But because I am lucky enough to have frugal parents who heavily prioritized education, they paid for everything without any loans. Many others are not so lucky.

MandalayVA

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12829 on: March 27, 2016, 08:21:31 AM »
I am buying a radar detector. That qualifies for this thread, right? Speeding costs more than driving more sedately, and I'm spending money to be able to drive faster.

Just don't use it in Virginia, radar detectors are illegal here.

CabinetGuy

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12830 on: March 27, 2016, 08:32:22 AM »
Overheard in supermarket line.  Guy behind me starts talking to cashier:

"Hey, just got a job at the hospital cleaning up.  It's 12.50 and hour and 40 hours a week."

Cashier: " That's more than you were making here."

"Yeah, it's great."

As the SO and I were pulling out the parking lot, I see him get into a brand new Tacoma extended cab.  Quite possibly the most expensive and useless truck on the market.  How the hell does he have any money left at the end of the month?

rencelas

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12831 on: March 27, 2016, 08:36:58 PM »
At our monthly leaders' meeting (Director level and his staff of managers) we were reviewing business practices including retirement benefits.  The  HR rep was showing the pension scale with reductions for early retirement, the usual stuff we should be knowledgable about for our own staff's questions.  My leader-team peers were complaining, the usual "I wish" kind of remarks, and the Director was leading the whining about wishing he could retire now.  I don't get it.  Every one of those guys has been in their roles 10+ years and are very highly compensated, including a $40K+ bonus annually, and not one of them had it together to be able to retire (everyone is around 50 years old).  Well, except me.....  but I didn't say that out loud. 

It's shocking to me, too. My old boss (170k+/year, typical 80k bonuses) was always whining about not having enough money. If I made his salary for 3 years, with those bonuses, I'd have already retired.

That said, I run a good sized manufacturing plant, and I drive the crappiest car in our lot. It's kind of eye opening to me to see how many of my employees drive brand new trucks and such with a $40k income. I couldn't imagine spending a year's salary on an automobile.

Papa Mustache

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12832 on: March 27, 2016, 08:38:59 PM »
I am buying a radar detector. That qualifies for this thread, right? Speeding costs more than driving more sedately, and I'm spending money to be able to drive faster.

Just don't use it in Virginia, radar detectors are illegal here.

In my younger years I had a radar detector I used everywhere especially VA.

What kept me out of trouble though I discovered was cruise control. Without cruise my speed climbs until I'm driving ~80 mph in a rush to get home.

I'm far more patient now a few years older.

Cruise, "good" stereo, and music I love.

JordanOfGilead

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12833 on: March 28, 2016, 06:38:38 AM »
I recently completed a degree and got licensed. There are many paths to this degree, typically taking two years. I got hired last week and in our new-hire orientation we got to talking about school. I paid $12K total for mine, including texts, pre-rec classes, no student loans. Other people mention $40K debts to get their degrees. Huh? We got hired by the same company, to do the same job, for the same salary.
I can see it costing more for some people, I tested out of some classes, and had already done many pre-recs. So I can see maybe $20K to get this degree. But, $40K?
Keep in mind that if they elected to live on campus, that can be paid for with student loans too and often costs as much as, or more than, tuition.

boyerbt

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12834 on: March 28, 2016, 07:33:53 AM »
Overheard my boss talking to another co-worker about his recent car “purchase”, he literally said the words “we couldn’t afford it”….

“We actually couldn’t afford the car payments with all of the options that we wanted in the vehicle so we are leasing it to keep the costs down - we will probably end up doing the lease to purchase option when the lease is up”

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12835 on: March 28, 2016, 09:39:49 AM »

That said, I run a good sized manufacturing plant, and I drive the crappiest car in our lot. It's kind of eye opening to me to see how many of my employees drive brand new trucks and such with a $40k income. I couldn't imagine spending a year's salary on an automobile.

I second this. I run a electronics manufacturing plant and my car is worth less than $2k. Most of my employees drive brand new cars $30-40k range(there entire salary). They used to complain how they were broke to me all the time and I would just point at there car and then to mine.

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12836 on: March 28, 2016, 09:45:13 AM »
Went to a retirement party last week.  The retiree has a second home in central Oregon.  He was telling me about his garage...
6 vehicle bays, second story is a 1200 s.f. man cave.  He's in the process of adding an elevator.  And this is the garage!!!

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12837 on: March 28, 2016, 10:19:39 AM »
Went to a retirement party last week.  The retiree has a second home in central Oregon.  He was telling me about his garage...
6 vehicle bays, second story is a 1200 s.f. man cave.  He's in the process of adding an elevator.  And this is the garage!!!

Facepunch all you want, but I want that.

Pooplips

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12838 on: March 28, 2016, 10:36:34 AM »
“We actually couldn’t afford the car payments with all of the options that we wanted in the vehicle so we are leasing it to keep the costs down - we will probably end up doing the lease to purchase option when the lease is up”

My friends said exactly this to me this weekend. Its crazy to me that no one stops to think; maybe we shouldn't buy this car?

Kitsune

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12839 on: March 28, 2016, 01:32:12 PM »
“We actually couldn’t afford the car payments with all of the options that we wanted in the vehicle so we are leasing it to keep the costs down - we will probably end up doing the lease to purchase option when the lease is up”

My friends said exactly this to me this weekend. Its crazy to me that no one stops to think; maybe we shouldn't buy this car?

My colleague (the one with the household staff who can't pay her tax bill...) is looking for a new car, because she can't afford the 2k her mechanic says her car needs to keep running for another two years.

Some people...

JLee

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12840 on: March 28, 2016, 03:49:20 PM »
Went to a retirement party last week.  The retiree has a second home in central Oregon.  He was telling me about his garage...
6 vehicle bays, second story is a 1200 s.f. man cave.  He's in the process of adding an elevator.  And this is the garage!!!

That sounds glorious.....except I don't really care about the man cave or the elevator.

gimp

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12841 on: March 28, 2016, 05:53:50 PM »
Went to a retirement party last week.  The retiree has a second home in central Oregon.  He was telling me about his garage...
6 vehicle bays, second story is a 1200 s.f. man cave.  He's in the process of adding an elevator.  And this is the garage!!!

Elevator or lift? A lift makes tons of sense, an elevator is odd.

If I had the money, the one thing I would really splurge on when building/buying a house is a garage / workshop. 6 vehicle bays is a bit more than I'd want, but I could probably do 2 lift bays and two parking bays (and the parking bays can have car lifts to double the space very inexpensively.) Huh, I guess that's 6 spots...

I don't particularly need a man cave, that's what the garage is for...

Inaya

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12842 on: March 28, 2016, 06:25:30 PM »
I recently completed a degree and got licensed. There are many paths to this degree, typically taking two years. I got hired last week and in our new-hire orientation we got to talking about school. I paid $12K total for mine, including texts, pre-rec classes, no student loans. Other people mention $40K debts to get their degrees. Huh? We got hired by the same company, to do the same job, for the same salary.
I can see it costing more for some people, I tested out of some classes, and had already done many pre-recs. So I can see maybe $20K to get this degree. But, $40K?
Keep in mind that if they elected to live on campus, that can be paid for with student loans too and often costs as much as, or more than, tuition.


This. In my final semester of college the actual tuition was $2700 (including $500 of nontuition "fees"). Room and board was $3050: $1650 for room and then $1400 the heinous mandatory nonrefundable 150-meal plan (the food was so awful that most people couldn't eat all their meals--even when they teamed with somebody off-campus to help eat them). Then you add in textbooks that could run you over $1000 per semester if you weren't lucky enough to find them used on Amazon.

Mind, this was a very inexpensive public school in an economically depressed area with in-state tuition, so it's not the best example. But it does  illustrate how most of the price of a college education does not actually come from tuition.
« Last Edit: March 28, 2016, 06:32:05 PM by Inaya »

nobodyspecial

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12843 on: March 28, 2016, 08:57:44 PM »
Which presumably is part of the reason for the increase in fees.
If you are going to be spending $10k/year on rent+transit, $5k/year on food and a few $k on books why not charge you  $20k in fees rather than $12k ? Especially when you don't have to pay it back for years !

It's diffently the reason for ridiculous text book prices.
I went to uni in the UK when there were no fees  (yeah socialism) and textbooks were paperback and 1/10 the price of US textbooks which were only ever hardback. When I moved to the US they explained that, if you were paying $30k in fees, why would you care about a $100 textbook?

randymarsh

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12844 on: March 28, 2016, 09:55:05 PM »
and textbooks were paperback

I knew a non-US education was inferior!

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12845 on: March 29, 2016, 01:45:38 AM »
Went to a retirement party last week.  The retiree has a second home in central Oregon.  He was telling me about his garage...
6 vehicle bays, second story is a 1200 s.f. man cave.  He's in the process of adding an elevator.  And this is the garage!!!

The man cave alone is ETA should have said twice the size of our house, lol!

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12846 on: March 29, 2016, 03:27:14 AM »
In my business I deal with pregnant women - some of the ridiculous amounts of money that are spent on prams (frequently $1,500 +), cots, change tables, cord blood banking, pregnancy photo shoots, birth photo shoots, 1 month photo shoots (etc), swingy things to pacify their screaming progeny, baby baths, monitors that let you hear, see and monitor breathing... it makes my head spin. Usually coming from women with massive rocks on their fingers, fake tans-tits-eyelashes-hair extensions, who berate their partner for not doing enough to help them, then three sentences later screech at them for not earning enough to buy them the latest SUV to park in the driveway of their ridiculous McMansion. One woman recently told me (proudly) that all the bits and pieces had cost them over $10,000 (excluding medical expenses) - and then went on to boast that it included nail clippers and a nappy pail, but NOT the photo shoots. STFU!

If my brain has fritzed so much that I make the mistake of mentioning our refurbished cot, borrowed pram, bathing the kids in the kitchen sink, changing their nappy on a towel on the floor/bed/couch lack of professional photo shoots etc I get that slack jawed gape in response, followed by pity.... f-u-c-k!!

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12847 on: March 29, 2016, 08:01:51 AM »
Which presumably is part of the reason for the increase in fees.
If you are going to be spending $10k/year on rent+transit, $5k/year on food and a few $k on books why not charge you  $20k in fees rather than $12k ? Especially when you don't have to pay it back for years !

It's diffently the reason for ridiculous text book prices.
I went to uni in the UK when there were no fees  (yeah socialism) and textbooks were paperback and 1/10 the price of US textbooks which were only ever hardback. When I moved to the US they explained that, if you were paying $30k in fees, why would you care about a $100 textbook?

I was routinely able to find "international editions" of textbooks that were either paperback or oddly bound (one had metal corners and a leather-like cover).  These weren't 1/10th the cost, but more like 1/4 or so.  Still saved some decent cash doing that, though I'm not sure it's 100% legit from the publisher's view...

MgoSam

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12848 on: March 29, 2016, 08:15:39 AM »
Which presumably is part of the reason for the increase in fees.
If you are going to be spending $10k/year on rent+transit, $5k/year on food and a few $k on books why not charge you  $20k in fees rather than $12k ? Especially when you don't have to pay it back for years !

It's diffently the reason for ridiculous text book prices.
I went to uni in the UK when there were no fees  (yeah socialism) and textbooks were paperback and 1/10 the price of US textbooks which were only ever hardback. When I moved to the US they explained that, if you were paying $30k in fees, why would you care about a $100 textbook?

I was routinely able to find "international editions" of textbooks that were either paperback or oddly bound (one had metal corners and a leather-like cover).  These weren't 1/10th the cost, but more like 1/4 or so.  Still saved some decent cash doing that, though I'm not sure it's 100% legit from the publisher's view...

There was a website I used, it's no longer up, where you could type in the ISBN or title or author and it would comb the internet for the cheapest prices. I manged to find a few international editions and other editions for cheap on there. What made it extra nice is that I was able to sell them after the semester for either my cost, or sometimes more than that (it was still cheaper for them than buying it used at the school bookstore).

aetherie

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Re: Overheard at Work
« Reply #12849 on: March 29, 2016, 08:47:02 AM »
Which presumably is part of the reason for the increase in fees.
If you are going to be spending $10k/year on rent+transit, $5k/year on food and a few $k on books why not charge you  $20k in fees rather than $12k ? Especially when you don't have to pay it back for years !

It's diffently the reason for ridiculous text book prices.
I went to uni in the UK when there were no fees  (yeah socialism) and textbooks were paperback and 1/10 the price of US textbooks which were only ever hardback. When I moved to the US they explained that, if you were paying $30k in fees, why would you care about a $100 textbook?

I was routinely able to find "international editions" of textbooks that were either paperback or oddly bound (one had metal corners and a leather-like cover).  These weren't 1/10th the cost, but more like 1/4 or so.  Still saved some decent cash doing that, though I'm not sure it's 100% legit from the publisher's view...

There was a website I used, it's no longer up, where you could type in the ISBN or title or author and it would comb the internet for the cheapest prices. I manged to find a few international editions and other editions for cheap on there. What made it extra nice is that I was able to sell them after the semester for either my cost, or sometimes more than that (it was still cheaper for them than buying it used at the school bookstore).

I don't know which website you were using, but I used bigwords.com (which is still up) for the same thing.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!